One person dies, 12 others injured in I-40 wreck

HAZEN, Ark. (KTHV) - One person died and at least a dozen others were injured as a result of a multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 40 Thursday morning.

Arkansas State Police said troopers were dispatched at 7:50a.m. to a report of a motor vehicle crash in the eastbound lane of I-40near the White River Bridge, at milemarker 200.

(Video Courtesy: Olivie Gaye Jackson, THV 11 Facebook Fan)

According to a press release from ASP, one person died in thewreck and at leasttwelve other individuals were injured. Air and ground ambulances transported the injured to Stuttgart and Little Rock hospitals.

Based on initial witness statements, trooperssuspect metal debris from the roadwaybecame airborne and impacted a vehicle, which stopped in the single lane of eastbound traffic; this caused trafficbehind thefirst vehicle to slow and stop. Seconds later,a commercial carrier truck traveling behind the stopped vehiclescaused a chain-reaction crash.

Both east and westbound traffic along I-40 through the area was diverted to nearby state and U.S. highways to allow for the crash scene to be cleared and the investigation to continue.

As of 3:30 p.m., troopers still at the crash scene were not anticipating the highway to re-open to traffic until 4:30 this afternoon.